MARK Russell says he and his team-mates will be taking each game as it comes in the Betfred Cup this season — the same mindset that carried them all the way to last year’s semi-final at Hampden.

Morton lost out narrowly to Aberdeen in the last four at the national stadium and Russell is hopeful they can emulate their own success of last year. 

But he is adamant they won’t be getting too far ahead of themselves as they bid to do so.

He said: “I think everyone is in the same boat, really, looking forward to the first competitive game after all the friendlies. 

“The boys are all looking and feeling sharp so we’re definitely looking forward to it.

“I like the Betfred Cup group stages personally because it means you’ve got the competition and competitive games started a lot quicker than usual. 

“Obviously it worked well for us last season and we’d hope to do well in these early games again to start our season off well.

“We had scheduled quite a few games for pre-season against the likes of Turriff and Stenhousemuir, and I think all the running is hopefully over and done with. It’s about looking ahead to the season now.

“We’re looking for a positive result today. We’ll take that as it comes, the same with all the other games. We’ll take it one at a time and hopefully we can do well and get through the group.”